Mathew Turned 8

Mathew turned 8 on his birthday this year and was baptized (I'll blog about that later). His birthday was on a Sunday this year so we chose to celebrate with an aunt and uncle and cousins that live here near us. We did our gifts at home before going to their house.

Here is Mathew with his loot. He loved receiving cards (and money) from family that doesn't live nearby.

He opened his favorite gift...we decided to get him a decent priced digital camera this year. I remember when I was younger we would get cameras from time to time...of course back then they were film cameras.

He also got some water guns, candy and books...all of which he enjoyed getting. I think the candy was another favorite of his.

Well like I said we decided to do dinner and cake at Aunt Judy's house. She was wonderful enough to do the cake for him. We talked over different ideas and wanted to go with a game themed "cake." She found this idea online:

Snakes and Ladders....a version of Chutes and Ladders. I think it turned out really well and Mathew LOVED it! And of course Aunt Judy made it SO yummy!

Mathew using his camera to take a picture of his "cake." We put the camera up to keep it safe and realized when we got home that it was still on a shelf on Aunt Judy's. He was very upset and really wanted it...who could blame him it was his birthday and it was a new "toy." So I went back to the house to get it...unfortunately it was POURING rain! Oh well, he was happy to have it back and Michael was glad to have his wallet and phone for work the next day too.

That's my silly boy...he has a hard time taking a normal picture. We have a hard time getting him to smile normal, usually he looks like he is hurting as he smiles. What a wonderful personality though!

So Mathew is 8. I asked him some of his favorites to try and figure out a good cake idea and here is some of what he told me (before we figured out the game/Snakes and Ladders):

His favorite color right now is red. He said his favorite game is Whonnu (it's a game of guessing what others like the best). He said his favorite candy is caramel, but I really don't think he is picky...he seems to like anything sugary and sweet! He doesn't have a favorite sport...overall he's not very sporty. He said he likes division and math. At the time I asked him Tom Sawyer was his favorite book. He didn't have a favorite movie...I think it actually might be Home Alone 3. And the last thing we talked about was his favorite ice cream and he likes Vanilla, Mint and Cookies and Cream.

I'm so glad we have Mathew as part of our family!